[FARC] 4130 Chrom Moly Steel - Local Source Maybe

[K3SKE Dan Szymanski]

Over the years there appears to be a large number of HAMS out there that are 
convinced the only material to use for an antenna mast to turn those laser 
death ray aerials on a tower is 4130 Chrom Moly steel alloy. For as long as 
I can remember in the years I have lived in Frederick, MD it normally meant 
a trip for someone going to the Dillsburg Aeroplane Works and see Charles 
Vogelsong. Yes, if you believe everything you read, it is stated he has the 
largest standing inventory of 4130 in the world.

Bud Davisson's www.airbum.com

I have no idea why the 4130 Chrome-Moly alloy steel is embedded into so many 
minds, but that is another matter to debate. In my own humble opinion since 
it is not on the list of pre-qualified steel products per ANSI/TIA-222-G it 
doesn't fly plus I have had other issues with it long before 222-G was 
released.

The following is not an endorsement...

Now lets fast forward to today. Through an inquiry at work we got a request 
(local ham) asking if we carried this in 2 inch OD with a .025 wall in 
inventory. The answer for the material was "NO". But wait there is more to 
this. I even included in the email reply for him to go to the Aeroplane 
Works, thinking that was the closest place.

But I discovered (after the fact) today there exists in Eldersburg, MD a 
race car chassis design and fabrication business. In addition to this they 
stock and sell chrome-moly tubing, DOM, chrome-moly plate etc. The name is 
OTGP Metal Sales 410 549-1112, owner is Rod Rodriguez. He is very much aware 
of the Aeroplane Works and cautioned me on one point even I have overlooked. 
Where is the steel manufactured? I was told that for the past five to six 
years now, material sold at Dillsburg is from BY land. Rod has formed a lot 
of 4130 on his shop equipment both from BY land and other production areas. 
That the stuff from BY land is perhaps made to a much lesser standard. It is 
even marked differently than "the good stuff". The stuff from Dillsburg it 
is purchased in rather large mill runs to get a good price but none the less 
it is still a BY product. If you ask the Dillsburg group will admit the 
tubing is imported from there. I bet the total discussion time I had with 
Rod ran 15-20 minutes in duration.

I told Rod I was going to throw out his name on the reflector, see who is 
out there looking for this material and go from there. You can Google "On 
The Ground Performance" your self.
If it means anything at all, Rod told me is was putting together his last 
for the year purchase list of shop materials to include steel. If he got 
enough of a potential response he can order this stuff in volume and make 
the purchase price attractive. I do not know anything beyond that.

Time to retreat..
Regards,

Dan
K3SKE
Frederick Cty